worm bin

I have tried many methods for composting and I really wanted worms to be a part of my farm system. I have used pre-made bins such as the worm factory and found that it worked great for raising solider fly larva. which I have heard are chicken delicacies and now that I have chickens, I think that I will start using it again for that purpose. but I believe the stackable bins such as the worm factory work well, as long as you maintain them properly. the volume of vegetable and food scraps I produce weekly was too great for my population of worms to ingest. I needed something bigger and more worms.

this is the finished bin. it is 4'x 8' and about 2' deep.
construction was simple. cinder blocks I had laying around, plywood, roofing, hardware cloth and some cedar board scraps.

I only had enough cedar boards to cover the bottom course of cinder blocks. I thought it looked prettier than cinder blocks. you could build the bin from cedar lumber but I had lots of cinder blocks laying about and it is a fast way to build.

I chose a location that was relatively level and near the garden. if I build another one, I would take the time to level the area with a slight slope away from the bin and garden. the ground was slightly higher in the middle and this created a "bump" on the lid and rain collects.

materials gathered. I mowed the grass as short as I could before building the bin.

I laid hardware cloth down first and used landscape staples to secure it. the hardware cloth will keep critters like voles and moles from burrowing underneath and eating all the worms.

once the hardware cloth was in place, I set the cinder blocks on top.

originally I made it one course of cinder blocks high, but later I was concerned about the temperature getting too hot. the deeper the material in the bin is, the deeper the worms can burrow when the temps get too high, or too low. though you don't want to make it too deep. 2' is a good depth.

you can see the bump in the middle in this pic. it doesn't affect the functionality of the bin, it just causes a spot where moisture on the lid collects and over time will rot the plywood.

I added the contents of my worm factory and homemade stackable bins. horse manure was the main bedding in these bins. it is an excellent bedding and food. you want to find out from the horse owners if they use wormers for their horses or any herbicides or lime application on their manure piles. it's ok to use the manure if they do, but it's good to know these things and you may need to let the manure sit for awhile if any wormers or chemicals have been applied recently.

I got my manure from a friend and the pile was loaded with red wrigglers. 

I covered all of it with shredded office paper to help retain moisture. I have since switched to hay. it lasts longer and really helps the pile from drying out.

and then I covered it with a screen to help keep flies out. I'm not sure if it does or not but I like the screen over top. 

adding food scraps is easy. you slide off the lid, pull away the hay and add food scraps. recover with hay and lid. I started adding food scraps at one end, the front, and when I get to the other end, the back, I will harvest any and all finished worm castings from the front. and then I will add food scraps to the front again and when it is full I will harvest from the back end.

 the material in the bin looked a little dry so I added some water to it,

 then covered it all up with hay and slid the lid back on.

I would change the lid to a hinge in the middle that folds back onto the other half of the lid if I make another one. sliding the lid can loosen the cinder blocks and skinks and lizards like to hang out under the lid and they can get squished when sliding the lid off. I usually lift it up and check to see if any critters are under the lid before sliding it off.